My thoughts on Australia Day

"Australians all let us recoil for we have no idea"

So in case you have been hiding under a rock, you might not be aware of the stupid media hoo haa over the BDO promoters asking patrons not to bring large unsightly flags to the Australian BDO.

Here is the BDO press release, and here is the Daily Telegraph's 'interpretation' of it. Keep in mind that since originally publishing the article, the Telegraph had edited the online version a number of times adding some more factual information as opposed to patriotic bullshit that it originally was when fed to the masses.

A few things I'd like to point out:
1. The Sydney BDO IS NOT ON AUSTRALIA DAY
2. There were people going around the Sydney BDO last year asking people to kiss their vomit-soaked flag or get punched in the face. They were also asking anyone who looked ethnic to pledge their allegiance to the flag, or else.
3. Why the HELL would you bring an Australian flag to an international music festival?
4. BDO DID NOT BAN THE FLAG, ONLY ASK THAT PEOPLE NOT BRING IT
5. Bogans like those at Cronulla DO use the flag to mask their racism as patriotism. Sorry, do you think bashing muslim women is patriotic and Australian, John Howard and Morris Iemma?

I could say more, but I think the SMH/Age blogs do it perfectly. Here is Jack Marx's point of view on the whole matter, and here is Clem Bastow's.

"Our land abound in growing rifts dividing rich and poor"

Meanwhile, the entire stupid debate did bring the fuckwits out of the woodwork. Check out Gerard Henderson's article here. Like this brilliant piece of crapola:

"At present, there is a tendency among the intelligentsia to declare that Australia is an intolerant, even racist, society..."

WHAT THE FUCK. The idea of Australians being racist is made up by the intelligentsia? Apart from the fact that the term intelligentsia is a wank word, what about all the racism that's happening everyday? My bet is that Gerard Henderson is some white old rich dude sitting in his house in Killara thinking that everyone ethnic is as happy as the federal government TVCs make them out to be. Fuckstick.

Anyway, so bullshit aside, I got to thinking what Australia Day means to me (that sounds so sappy). Reading about the vomit-worthy patriotism at the BDO made me really recoil from the idea of being Australian or identifying with the flag, but I felt a great surge of happiness and also sadness (sappiness?) watching the multicultural Australia day parade in Adelaide.

Australia is a country that is made of people arriving here on boats from countries that didn't want them. From convicts, to German war immigrants, to Vietnamese boat people, Australia was built by rejects. Being Australian doesn't mean drinking beer, wearing thongs and an Australian flag as a cape, it means being in a country that accepts anyone who isn't wanted anywhere else.

"we go to war for wealth and oil, our home is girt by fear"

Unfortunately Australia likes to pretend it's a world power (even though we don't mean diddly squat to the rest of the world's nations) and wankers like John Howard think they have a right to reject people in need from entering our country (eg Tampa need I say anymore. Except that Tampa is like Tampax moving on). Now we're really identifying with the idea of Australia being a sunburnt country - so sunburnt that there's a shitload of red on your neck, right?

I don't see how white Australia today can think we can reject people from coming here, just because they arrive on boats. Hell, the aboriginals didn't do it to your precious convict ancestors. Get the fuck over yourself, Australia. You're not any more important than anyone else. And the most amusing thing? In 50 years time it will be the asylum seeker's names that are published in history books, not you or your friends down in the pub talking about cricket and AFL. The asylum seekers are the ones who will be glorified and talked about by pompous politicians on Australia day when they talk about Australia being a country of battlers. Sitting on your arse being a racist cunt does not make you an Aussie Battler. It makes you a dick. And it's becoming apparent that the only difference between Australia and Southern US is that the black people over there have more power.

"in history's page this is the age of fair justice ignored"

So I'm keeping with the idea that Australia is a multicultural country. It doesn't necessarily mean that we don't have racist fucks, but it's about accepting the fact that we're a country full of boat people. And that isn't a bad thing.